Unfortunately I believe that we are limited in what we can focus on. I think that if we proceed with the partisan sideshow of prosecuting Bush admin. officials, healthcare will get lost in the brouhaha.
— Posted by denamom, Obama's Quandary...

Dem Lawmaker's Son Probed in Palin E-mail Case

The FBI is investigating the son of a Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker as part of a probe into the illegal break-in of GOP vice-presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account.

David Kernell, a 20-year-old economics major at the University of Tennessee and the son of state Rep. Mike Kernell, a Memphis Democrat, had his apartment searched by FBI agents over the weekend, The Associated Press and Knoxville, Tenn., TV station WBIR report.

Unnamed witnesses to the search told WBIR that FBI agents broke up a party at the younger Kernell's apartment near campus and issued subpoenas to three of his roommates. Witnesses told the station that Kernell and his friends "fled the apartment when the FBI agents arrived."

The hacker, going by the screen name "Rubico," made claims that he broke into Palin's personal Yahoo e-mail account by tricking the system's security software into issuing him a new password, according to Wired.com. Bloggers were able to connect the "Rubico" name to David Kernell's university e-mail account last Thursday.

The hacker's public, yet anonymous confession, apparently allowed authorities to focus on the Tennessee college student.

"He might as well have taken a picture of his house and uploaded it," Ken Pfeil, an Internet security expert, told the AP.

Comments

Obama commanded his minions to "GET IN THEIR FACE". He is just as responsible for this as if he personally hacked Palin's email.

Posted by: xaix | September 22, 2008 2:51 PM

More proof the Democratic party is now owned by the Daily Kos / Moveon.org far FAR left.

Posted by: mary | September 22, 2008 3:13 PM

xaix

Does that mean we can charge McCain for murdering all those Afghan children in the recent bombing of their village?

Please, stop posting worthless drivel on the internet and save us all the time spent reading your comments.

Posted by: Andrew | September 22, 2008 3:15 PM

Obama has supporters. Cheney has minions.

Posted by: Dave, oh, I mean... DaxiVivaX | September 22, 2008 3:16 PM

mary

don't forget that it is your party that is all for spying on people's emails and tapping their phones without warrants. If you're so concerned about privacy maybe you should have helped fight the FISA amendment. Oh wait, it's ok when Bush does it.

Nevermind the fact that emails of government office holders is supposed to open to oversight and that Palin uses these accounts to get around that.

Posted by: Chris | September 22, 2008 3:18 PM

The hacking was done by '4chan' which belongs to no party. They are one and they are many. It was done for giggles. Not for an agenda. It might have helped one agenda and hurt another but it was done to see if it could be done.

Posted by: Anonymous | September 22, 2008 3:20 PM

Can't say I know much about the whole she should have used gov email. You see what I cannot find is that she actually used this personal email for official business. From what I can see is the email was used to discuss personal things between friends she had at work. Any email I have seen so far are not official emails. I use my personal email to communicate non work related issues with friends I have here at work. Sometimes even use their work email.

I am not saying this is what she did only that I have not seen the evidence that she did not or that it is against the rules for a public official to have a personal or non government email.

Just a thought anyway

Posted by: jim | September 22, 2008 3:25 PM

I agree with Anonymous' sentiment. It was the vague hacker-culture sense of achievement. They bragged about it on wired because they wanted credit. palin became a celeb, so mediocre computer types targeted her to be the first.

and mary, I think its only natural that Dems lean further left to counter the twenty-plus years of the GOP targeting socially conservative voters to sneak through corporate and neo-con policies. how else are we to gain our civil liberties and individual rights back after Bush is out?

Posted by: Dave | September 22, 2008 3:27 PM

What bogus arguments. Done for "giggles". Right. I remember Liddy saying that's why he did it. They found nothing incriminatng. The hacker even said how disappointed he was. But I'm sure you would have been all in favor of Watergate too had the Dems been caught breaking the law with what Nixon's followers found. What insane logic. Typical Dems partisan backwards logic.

Posted by: Garry | September 22, 2008 3:30 PM

Oops... The Dems got caught with their hand in the cookie jar? I thought that was strictly in the domain of Republicans... We'll call this one Obamagate! It goes to show that sheepish on the outside can mean several different things on the inside. Let's face it, Obama didn't make it in Chicago politics because of his pretty face...

Posted by: SETennessean | September 22, 2008 3:31 PM

this kid is done for. One less Hussein Obama's voter :(

Posted by: Hussein | September 22, 2008 3:31 PM

The fact that nothing nefarious was found in the emails I am sure is dissappointing to some, but obviously the whole story is a yawner.

While this is not Watergate, still anybody publishing another's private email account should be prosecuted. This isn't a govt. or even a campaign comspiracy, just idiots trying to be cute by trying to embarrass someone else by exposing their private communications. Regardless of politics there is no acceptable place in an "internet society" for exposing another's private thoughts to public scrutiny for fun.

The fact that the perpertrators seemed to be bragging about their prowess while exposing themselves as buffoons does add a little satisfaction to the matter.

Posted by: skippy | September 22, 2008 3:32 PM

This is a minor version of Watergate-style break in.

If the perpetrators found guilty, they'll pay for their complicity.

Posted by: Tony Anderson | September 22, 2008 3:33 PM

there is a distinction when the govt spies on people's email and when an individual hacks into another person's email account.

The first has to do with controlling threats against a general population. This was approved as law and there should be no question about since it is legal if the government does it.

The other is invasion of privacy. That kid, regardless whether he is democrat or not, committed a crime. His foolishness shouldn't go unpunished. He deserves to be prosecuted under the full extent of the law.

Posted by: sonny boy | September 22, 2008 3:33 PM

Isn't that exactly what the Duhbya asked the telecoms to do? Sounds like the usual morons on capital hill saying it is ok if "we" do it, but "you" can't. Congress should have hung the telecos out to dry and Bush for authorizing it. The kid was wrong but so are the telcos. Once again justice is not handed out evenly.

Posted by: 3dxtreme | September 22, 2008 3:34 PM

The law should treat this boy as they would any other that broke into private email and was caught-politics aside.

Posted by: Anonymous | September 22, 2008 3:35 PM

During the 2004 election there was another case of a Democratic lawmakers son slashing tires on a Republican get out the vote effort. Also, there were numerous instances of republican offices being raided and vandalised - broken windows, stolen computers, democrat activists taking over offices. The party that claims to fear thuggery are themselves the sole thugs - the mischief makers - the destroyers. If there was a single similar instance from the right the democrat party would start stoking fears of a new Nazi party. But the right, for all the disingenuous fear-mongering from the left doesn't do such things. The left is the new nazi party - their way at all costs.

Posted by: JDW | September 22, 2008 3:36 PM

Enough of this crap. Is internet so secure that gov politicos can use public domain email accounts for private gov business. There is a President, Senate, and Congress in Washington looking out for themselves and letting John Q. Public go to HELL in a handbasket.

Posted by: Jjohnson | September 22, 2008 3:37 PM

If Obama's private e-mail was hacked this would be such big news -- people would not only be screaming against the obvious violation of privacy, but they'd be screaming racism as well.

But because it happened to a Republican, it must be her own fault.

Posted by: info | September 22, 2008 3:38 PM

So, it's ok to hack into an account and post everything and if we find stuff that maybe shouldn't be there all the better.

-then I gotta ask, what's the beef with the fed gov't trying to listen in on overseas calls from suspected terrorists? Seems a certain group can't stand anything IF it's done by a republican and love everything IF it's done by a Democrat...

-How about it was wrong and who ever did it is simply a jerk.

Palin is exactly what the US needs; a talented woman who knows how to get things done.

we can listen to her over the next few weeks and make our decision or we can start digging for dirt. -because you know that overdue library book from the 5th grade SHOWS that she has no business in politics...

Posted by: dude | September 22, 2008 3:39 PM

Since when is using a password recovery utility built into a mail server considered 'hacking'? He's a lucky guesser or she's terrible at coming up with password hints..honestly..you're all short-bus riding republicans..

Posted by: 1337sk00l3r | September 22, 2008 3:39 PM

So..This is forgivable...??
I dont get it, obvious invasion of privacy on what grounds? and yet you defend this..
I would (and DO) feel different if national security was at stake....
And 1 question, What civil liberties did Dave lose?? I am certain the answer is none...More unfounded Dem babble.

Posted by: Goat | September 22, 2008 3:40 PM

i seriously wouldnt want my email account broken into, no matter what government office I hold while serving the public.

People who are defending the actions of David Kernell should just realize that they are as guilty as David when he was doing it.

Posted by: social worker | September 22, 2008 3:42 PM

This crime was done for the exact same reason Watergate was, to find dirt on the opponent, only it was done over the Internet. Breaking into an office vs. breaking into a private e-mail account. Were Democrats saying years ago that it was the DNC's fault because they should have picked a hotel other than Watergate with better locks and security?

Posted by: Garry | September 22, 2008 3:43 PM

One random vigilante kid is not the responsibility of the party. This kid is a misguided vigilante. Vigilantes break the law. He should be prosecuted as such, a vigilante who broke the law. In his defense, at least he had seemingly good intentions even if was misguided.

Posted by: anymouse | September 22, 2008 3:45 PM

The email was hacked by the David Kernell, who looked thru the emails, found nothing worthwhile and then turned it over to '4chan'.

'4chan' posted some stuff from emails. They got caught with there hands in the cookie jar tring to dig up more crap on SP.

Maybe these people should actually put time in to what these elections are about on policies. Of course that will never happen because then that would mean they actually have to have an opinion.

Posted by: Merle Underwood | September 22, 2008 3:46 PM

In this era of zero privacy who knows what private information of yours is out there on the internet that you do not even know about.

Posted by: joe | September 22, 2008 3:47 PM

I don't think the law would do anything if someone broke into my email account and posted it. They certainly wouldn't send the FBI after them.

Posted by: 3dxtreme | September 22, 2008 3:34 PM

The law should treat this boy as they would any other that broke into private email and was caught-politics aside.

what the republican minions are suggesting - that the dems are more knowledgeable in technology and more educated and more equipped to govern in the 21st century. What's that the republican call the people who have education - elite !!!

Posted by: capitalist system??? | September 22, 2008 3:50 PM

lie, cheat, steal... add another to the obama campaign list... HACK!!

Why not investigate fanny mae and freddy? oh wait the guys in charge of that were democrats so they wont. you can bet you bottom that if they were republicans that were in charge there would have been a full blown investigation into this.

Posted by: Kevoh | September 22, 2008 3:51 PM

This guy obviously shouldn't be hacking into anyone else's email account, but then a Governor shouldn't use yahoo account to conduct state business either. Serves her right for trying to avoid the public records laws of her own state! Typical Republican mentality. Don't follow the law, go around it if you don't want to comply.

Posted by: clare | September 22, 2008 3:51 PM

The blog http://sarahpalintruthsquad.wordpress.com/ has eye opening videos posted of Gov. Sarah Palin on local Alaska news stations conducting news conferences where she changes her story as to the firing of Walt Monegan ... also, Palin seems to have problems with rape victims, abused women and unwed teen mothers ... cutting funds to programs supporting those most in need.

Posted by: VotersUnite | September 22, 2008 3:54 PM

This was not done by "The Democrats". It was done by one 20 year old kid acting alone. Boy you people can sure by dumb.

the revoked civil liberties include stripping workers of their right to unionize via surveillance and vulnerability to unfounded conspiracy charges in the patriot act,

the same tactics used against individuals with or without evidence of crime or conspiracy,

a meaningless terror watch list of over a million names and counting (people like me, named Dave Jones, who are routinely harassed by unqualified security agents when traveling because of the list - if this unfounded Dem babble, then the TSA is underfunded GOP drivel, kind of like the education initiative and every other con pipe dream designed to fail so they can justify killing gov't entirely),

and the ability to detain people without counsel or trial as enemy combatants - if you don't see the danger in this one, there's no point in having this exchange, because you're just a good german to the end...

Posted by: Dave | September 22, 2008 3:58 PM

Can any one really link this to the Democrats. Foolishness. Should we link the social security file intrusion a few months ago to the Republicans. More foolishness.

Comparing either political parties to the Nazi's is a real stretch. Take a break.... you kids are getting overloaded with too much information running through your brain.

Posted by: Tired yet? | September 22, 2008 4:00 PM

Is right. Most of you people are retarded as H E double hockey sticks. Secondly, the retardation knows no bounds, it's fairly bipartisan. He was a dumb kid who did something unethical and possibly illegal. Obama didn't DO this, neither did McCain. If you want to talk about Freddie or Fanny, this is NOT the news story for it, idiots (no all of you, just the select few who know who they are).

Posted by: Duh | September 22, 2008 4:02 PM

word up, Tired

people will throw around the word nazi with no regard for the gravity of what they're saying.

this hacker is hardly news compared to the actual issues at hand in this election, and even a comparison to watergate is pretty masturbatory

Posted by: Dave | September 22, 2008 4:03 PM

Palin is hot

Posted by: Carter | September 22, 2008 4:03 PM

Reminds me of the mindless drivel when Paris Hilton's phone got hacked. I don't recall the FBI being in such a frenzy then...

Posted by: Go Away | September 22, 2008 4:07 PM

Please don't compare this to Watergate. It amounts to a prank.

Posted by: person | September 22, 2008 4:08 PM

This proves that all Democrats are terrorists!

Posted by: JakeD | September 22, 2008 4:12 PM

PLEASE EMAIL WEBSITES, NEWSPAPERS, AND TV STATIONS TO STOP REPORTING ANY NEWS ABOUT PALIN. STOP COVERING OR BROADCASTING ANY OF HER EVENTS. DO NOT PRINT ANY GOP NEWS THAT INCLUDES HER NAME. IF THIS ALMOST WOMEN REFUSES TO HAVE A NEWS CONFERENCE, OR ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM THE PRESS WHY SHOULD SHE BE ALLOWED TO HAVE ANY COVERAGE OF HER SPEECHES OR COMMENTS. SHE REFUSES TO HAVE A 2 WAY CONVERSATION WITH AMERICA, SO BLACK LIST HER.

WHY WOULDN'T SHE WANT US TO KNOW JUST HOW SMART SHE IS REGARDING THE ISSUES THAT BIDDEN, BARRACK AND MCCAIN ARE WILLING TO ANSWER. HELL SHE WENT TO 6 COLLEGES TO GET HER 4 YEAR DEGREE SO SHE MUST BE AS SHARP AS A TACK

Posted by: SACTO | September 22, 2008 4:13 PM

women need to think about this chump and his democrat "representative" father. who is he representing? the national peeking-toms association or the american people. if this is the creed and colors of liberals and democrats at the national level, i'm through with them.
democratic party = scorched earth policy, women be damned!http://americanpoliticalblog.wordpress.com/

Posted by: Mary Ann | September 22, 2008 4:14 PM

What is pathetic is that she was using a Yahoo account for state business and allowed it to be hacked in the first place. Do you leave the doors to you house open when your not home? Safeguards are legally required to protect confidential information and she completely disregarded those. And this is the woman we want second in line to head our national security? No thanks.

Posted by: Sambo | September 22, 2008 4:16 PM

the demoCRITES are setting new lows this year

LIES OF OBAMA;

LIE NUMBER ONE - BREAKING PLEDGE TO FINANCE CAMPAIGN ETHICALLY

LIE NUMBER TWO - TYING MCCAIN TO BUSH AFTER DEMOCRATS HAVE APPLAUDED MCCAIN FOR YEARS AS BEING DIFFERENT THAN BUSH

LIE NUMBER THREE - TAX CUTS FOR 95% OF AMERICA - OVER 30 PERCENT OF AMERICANS ARE NOT PAYING FEDERAL INCOME TAX, SO THIS IS A MATHEMATICAL IMPOSSIBILITY

LIE NUMBER FOUR - SARAH IS A FRAUD - THE FACT THAT SARAH HAS MADE SOME REFORMS IN ALASKA IS INDISPUTABLE

LIE NUMBER FIVE - I WILL BRING NON-PARTISANSHIP BACK TO WASHINGTON (BY PICKING THE MOST PARTISAN SENATOR AS YOUR RUNNING MATE AND BY TAKING ON YOUR OWN PARTY ZERO TIMES)

LIE NUMBER SIX - THE SEX ED IN KINDERGARTEN BILL WAS ALL ABOUT PREDATOR PROTECTION AND NOTHING ELSE - SIMPLY NOT TRUE - GO READ IT YOURSELF

LIE NUMBER SEVEN - I RESPECT THE DIGNITY OF HUMAN LIFE - RRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT - YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT BABIES BORN ALIVE DIE IF THEIR MOM WANTED IT THAT WAY - DISGUSTING

I COULD GO ON (and on) - BUT LIE NUMBER ONE (or 7) WAS BY ITSELF ENOUGH TO TURN THIS INDEPENDENT REPUBLICAN

***** how can you tell when obama is lying ?? *****

answer;

his lips are moving

Posted by: tojoley | September 22, 2008 4:17 PM

Hey SACTO,
Using all caps is like announcing that you are stupid. Learn it, know it, live it!

Posted by: rose marie | September 22, 2008 4:18 PM

Since when is using a password recovery utility built into a mail server considered 'hacking'? He's a lucky guesser or she's terrible at coming up with password hints..honestly..you're all short-bus riding republicans..

Posted by: 1337sk00l3r | September 22, 2008 3:39 PM

This statement is simply unbelievable. The hacker only "guessed" the right password and got in. Nothing wrong there. Very similar to the burglar only "guessed" the right lock combination to someone's home. Talk about short-bus and all that...

Posted by: Murgo525 | September 22, 2008 4:19 PM

Also, this "she was using Yahoo for state business" is a lie that was spread by the LIEberals. There is no evidence whatsoever that she did this. Otherwise, we would know exactly what state business she did in those emails thanks to our trusty, two-faced lying LIEberals friends. Right? Right.

Posted by: Murgo525 | September 22, 2008 4:22 PM

Lets get a couple of facts straight. The governments phone tapping policy concerns only those calls comming from or going to nations that support terrorism. How may of you has this affected??? As for email... it is run through a "virtual filter" that looks for patterns and certain red flags. So unless you are either a terrorist or pedofile I doubt that you or anyone you know has ever been "rounded up" because of an email. The posting of ANYONES personal email is a despicable act, and I hope that the person who did it is punished.

Posted by: Just me .02 | September 22, 2008 4:30 PM

Garry - Interesting you should mention Nixon, he won that election.

Posted by: sandwall | September 22, 2008 4:31 PM

Obviously Anonymous needs over 9000 proxy condoms, because as Oprah recognized they have over 9000 penises.

Also, via the transitive property:

* Anonymous = pedophiles with over 9000 penises and are raping our children

I'm not sure exactly how hacking into a politicians personal email, which contained basically personal conversations and not state business, by a college student can be compared to a federal law that allows federal agencies the right to access conversations by known or suspected terrorists.

Did I miss something?

So because there is a federal law that allows the govn't to access known or suspected terrorist’s information any citizen now has the right to break into any other citizen’s personal information? That is a pretty silly argument. Let's just forget the politics for a second, no one would want some POS college idiot hacking into and stealing your personal information, why can't people at least admit that the kid is in the wrong instead of scapegoat’ing on president bush as if he is some how responsible for everything that every citizen does at anytime in this country or around the world for that matter. Geez, he’s not that powerful.

Posted by: Anonymous | September 22, 2008 4:33 PM

A crook is still a crook. Let's not try to sugar-coat the criminality of Obamagate by degree.

Posted by: Landrum | September 22, 2008 4:36 PM

nuff said.

Posted by: everyone here made me sick. | September 22, 2008 4:37 PM

This was an arrogant, inane college student who happened to be a Dem legislator's son. Don't blame Obama, clearly the guy confessed online and had no thought of the magnitude of his error or the repercussions.

Posted by: Ca-Ching | September 22, 2008 4:40 PM

WTFE! People are really grasping at straws to make this a big conspiracy.

People shouldn't break into another person's account. (Just because you can guess my locker combination, doesn't mean that you go rummaging around in it and take a picture. However, this probably wouldn't have happened if the TN Vols could win a football game. Those boys would've been out drinking and celebrating instead of guessing people's passwords.

And why do people make comments like "you dems" or "you repubs" as if there is some big organized effort among the general public. Unless you hold an office or work at headquarters, politcal affiliations mean nothing in the grand scheme. People who lean either way don't share a secret handshake, much less collective reponsibilty for the opinions expressed by random stragers.

Posted by: Roll Tide | September 22, 2008 4:40 PM

This young man is as "responsible" as most of the college supporters of Obama.

These kids are obvious good at partying, hacking, and doing non-essential activities while the rest of the society go about trying to elect a grown-up adult to run the country, and parents like us making a living.

The question I have is: How do we entrust this young, reckless generation to hijack and decide a president for the country?!?

Posted by: tiddle | September 22, 2008 4:42 PM

"The question I have is: How do we entrust this young, reckless generation to hijack and decide a president for the country?!?"

We have no problem sending them to Iraq.

:-P

Posted by: Marigold | September 22, 2008 4:46 PM

Don't try to shift the blame to Palin, on which account she should be using. Hacking is invasion to privacy. Period. Whether it's a Sarah Palin, or me, or anyone else, if anyone hacks into my account (email or ebay or paypal or bank or brokerage etc), it's wrong and it's criminal.

I doubt if it makes a damn difference that if this kid is some Dem's son. But this kid's attitude is emblematic as anyone in his generation: the reckless, know-it-all a**hole.

Posted by: frankie | September 22, 2008 4:46 PM

Can someone enlighten me as to the connection between the hacker and the Obama campaign? Apparently, many right-leaning commentators have access to some as yet unpublished evidence that definitively implicates the Obama campaign. otherwise I am sure that they would hold to the "innocent until proven guilty" standard of American jurisprudence and not make unsupported allegations and ridiculous comparisons to Watergate.

Hope I didn't scare any of the right-leaning folks by using a big word like "jurisprudence". I forgot that you guys tend to respond more to 1 syllable words, like "us" and "them".

Posted by: abdul goldstein | September 22, 2008 4:47 PM

To Marigold: You might not have a problem with it, but I DO have a problem sending these kids to Iraq. In fact, I have a problem sending ANYONE to an unnecessary war, kid or no kid.

As to whether we should have entrusted kids as young as 19 or 20 going to a war zone, it's a resounding no.

Posted by: tiddle | September 22, 2008 4:50 PM

"This young man is as "responsible" as most of the college supporters of Obama.

These kids are obvious good at partying, hacking, and doing non-essential activities while the rest of the society go about trying to elect a grown-up adult to run the country, and parents like us making a living. "

Ya, College is so elitist! So is medicine (the only thing keeping the morbidly obese electoral alive), technology (iPod and xBoxes), and the economy (oops, bad example)... We should all settle for a ninth grade education and work the farm, then we could be sure our country would remain the dominant corporo-military we've enjoyed for ~60 years.

As for electing a 'grown-up adult'... Worked really well in 2000 huh? And I think McCain has gone beyond grown up and is now in the decaying phase of his life (mentally decaying as well as physically).

Posted by: Hillbilly chuckles | September 22, 2008 4:52 PM

Did I miss Kernell's conviction??
I guess not.
What about *innocent until proven guilty,* is so difficult for Republicons to comprehend?
He may well be guilty, but stop foaming at the mouth already. He's a 20yr-old kid, and if he's not guilty, you guys are ruining his life.
Luckily, for those subpoenaed, they live in a Republicon culture... so they can ignore the subpoenas, like Rove, Miers, Bolton, Palin, etc.
Of course, not being of the Republicon Power Elite, it probably won't work for them.

Posted by: baz | September 22, 2008 4:52 PM

Oh, I have a problem with it.

I was just pointing out that your post unfairly maligned young people.

We don't want to sing a chorus from Bye-Bye Birdie. ;-)

Posted by: Marigold | September 22, 2008 4:54 PM

Yeah, it's pretty wacky all this "hacking" talk. A five-year old can retrieve a password from any of the password retrieval functions on any of those "large-scale" web sites. It's not really "hacking" in any true regard.

Now, believe me, I'm not saying that it was right for the person to do that, but for goodness sake, as a politician and governor she should know better. This is a very simple example that a politician should not take technology lightly. For her to be running for vice presidency and this to happen is totally ridiculous. Something to keep in mind... she is running as the "Vice President". This is not something that she should oversight.

Posted by: Conservative Policia | September 22, 2008 4:54 PM

I guess it's OK for the government to spy on us, wire tapping, telecom in the name of security,etc, that's legal. However, for a citizen to spy on one of the Republican Machine, even though they're conducting business inappropriately, then it's the FBI and possible jail time for you!

Posted by: hummingB | September 22, 2008 4:59 PM

Did I mention... she is a total fool for using an "insecure" communication medium for political or governmental correspondence. Sure, for someone to break into her account was wrong. But she is also a total dope for enabling the opportunity.

Posted by: Conservative Policia | September 22, 2008 5:07 PM

It's a sorry state of affairs when 2 geeks are hacking into email in their college years instead of chasing girls, grades and fun. I bet they are pocket protector kids with thick glasses.

Posted by: Tom | September 22, 2008 5:10 PM

It doesn’t matter to me if you consider this to be a big deal in terms of invasion of privacy or not but please, for the love of God, please stop with all of this mindless generalizing because this dumb-assed kid happens to be a democrat. As far as I know the democrats has not officially listed him as a representative of the party or anything. Republicans lending this non sequitur argument validity is analogous to democrats considering Timothy Dale (the dumb-ass that shot Chairman Bill Gwatney) to be the official voice of the Republican Party. Generalizing the stupid, isolated and singular acts of the young and the crazy to a vast array of Americans only going to separate Americans further. Divide and conquer? Anyone worried about that?

Posted by: Moop | September 22, 2008 5:14 PM

Why do political scandals and all this hype surrounding it always seem so "high-schoolish" and blown out of utter proportion? This case is a perfect example of the misuse of a government organization. The FBI should not be involved in this matter. Governor Sarah Palin's incompetence and irresponsibility for using an insecure free web service "enabled" the situation. She should be held accountable (from a government level) just as much as the person that gained access to her e-mail account (on a personal lawsuit level). Let me repeat... this is nothing that the FBI should be involved in. This is a personal matter.

Posted by: Cowgirl Michelle | September 22, 2008 5:21 PM

demoCRITES hit new lows (good thing they have the media covering up for them - can you say SNL as a snobby 90 minute obama commercial ?)

LIES OF OBAMA;

LIE NUMBER ONE - BREAKING PLEDGE TO FINANCE CAMPAIGN ETHICALLY

LIE NUMBER TWO - TYING MCCAIN TO BUSH AFTER DEMOCRATS HAVE APPLAUDED MCCAIN FOR YEARS AS BEING DIFFERENT THAN BUSH

LIE NUMBER THREE - TAX CUTS FOR 95% OF AMERICA - OVER 30 PERCENT OF AMERICANS ARE NOT PAYING FEDERAL INCOME TAX, SO THIS IS A MATHEMATICAL IMPOSSIBILITY

LIE NUMBER FOUR - SARAH IS A FRAUD - THE FACT THAT SARAH HAS MADE SOME REFORMS IN ALASKA IS INDISPUTABLE

LIE NUMBER FIVE - I WILL BRING NON-PARTISANSHIP BACK TO WASHINGTON (BY PICKING THE MOST PARTISAN SENATOR AS YOUR RUNNING MATE AND BY TAKING ON YOUR OWN PARTY ZERO TIMES)

LIE NUMBER SIX - THE SEX ED IN KINDERGARTEN BILL WAS ALL ABOUT PREDATOR PROTECTION AND NOTHING ELSE - SIMPLY NOT TRUE - GO READ IT YOURSELF

LIE NUMBER SEVEN - I RESPECT THE DIGNITY OF HUMAN LIFE - RRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT - YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT BABIES BORN ALIVE DIE IF THEIR MOM WANTED IT THAT WAY - DISGUSTING

I COULD GO ON - BUT LIE NUMBER ONE (or 7) WAS BY ITSELF ENOUGH TO TURN THIS INDEPENDENT REPUBLICAN

how can you tell when obama is lying ??

answer

his lips are moving

the liars in this race are the demoCRITES - it is obvious to anyone objective

Posted by: tojoley | September 22, 2008 5:37 PM

What we have so far is not a suspect but a "person of interest". Does the name Richard Jewell mean anything? And of course, since this POI is the son of a Tennessee state Democratic official that means it's proof positive of a concerted plan from the highest levels of the DNC.

Gosh, talk about vast Left wing conspiracy.

Posted by: DavidD | September 22, 2008 5:41 PM

For all you libs that think this was a minor event and means nothing, had it be Obama's email account, you'd be screamin' for blood all over the net.

Posted by: Disappointed with W | September 22, 2008 5:41 PM

Murgo525, your analogy is a bit off. I think what 1337sk00l3r is trying to say is that ‘Hacking’ actually requires intelligence. The kid did wrong, no doubt – arguably like burglary, but a better analogy to the situation would be to say that someone is a Safe-cracker because he happed to open a safe with an unlocked door.

Posted by: Moop | September 22, 2008 5:43 PM

Let me get this straight, my personal account information, along with thousands of others, was stolen when a government official lost his laptop. Now, almost two years later, I'm still paying to have my credit returned to normal. The person(s) who stole the laptop and used/sold my information is still on the loose and the police are no closer to finding out if the laptop was stolen or was "stolen". Heck, I don't think they care anymore.

But here's a college kid who may or may not have anything to do with a FREE YAHOO ACCOUNT getting accessed and the feds are running around like he's Bin Laden. What is going on here??

Maybe I should ask Bob Barr if I can be his running mate just to get a little justice.

Posted by: Heather | September 22, 2008 5:43 PM

The real crime is that a state official and potential head of state was stupid enough to use a commercial email account for official business. The kid did everyone a favor by exposing this incompetence.
Go get 'em, FBI...sure beats going after Chinese, Russian, and North Korean hackers, doesn't it?

Nothing like low-hanging fruit to get the doughnut squad going.

Posted by: theantibush | September 22, 2008 5:53 PM

xiax wrote: "Obama commanded his minions to "GET IN THEIR FACE". He is just as responsible for this as if he personally hacked Palin's email."

This is what I mean about the mindless demographic that is the target of the McCain campaign. Unfortunately, the incompetent usually outnumber the competent, in any population.

Accordingly, I predict a McCain win, as such tail continues to wag the dog in our orthodox democracy. Votes should be weighed against a national criteria, to help address the sub-prime crisis in leadership we have, across all elected positions.

Posted by: theantibush | September 22, 2008 5:58 PM

Cowgirl Michelle Says: "This case is a perfect example of the misuse of a government organization. The FBI should not be involved in this matter. Governor Sarah Palin's incompetence and irresponsibility for using an insecure free web service "enabled" the situation."

So, if someone broke into Obama's personal email and made it public, you'd be totally okay with that, correct? Look, like it or not, she is a candidate for Vice-President of the United States of America. This type of investigation comes with the territory.

And argument that she 'enabled' this by having a personal email account with Yahoo is pretty lame. By that argument, you'd condemn a fat person for being shot simply because they were a big target. And if you leave your front door unlocked, you DESERVE to be robbed.

As best as anyone can figure out, She did NOTHING wrong or irresponsible. And I doubt you'd find many within your own party who would agree with you on this one. She had pretty benign email interactions (of a non-business nature) with co-workers. She might be chastised for this, but it's not a crime. My guess is that 99.9% of folks in congress shiver to think what might show up if someone gained access to THEIR personal email accounts. The only one who isn't nervous is JM because he doesn't do email! (but to be fair, it's been made clear that using a keyboard is quite a painful ordeal for him... so he gets a little grace on that one). He's pretty tech savvy.

PEACE...

Posted by: smc | September 22, 2008 5:59 PM

To Heather, You are right some dufus government employee accidentally lost a laptop and they should be held accountable. But a crime wasn't committed until somebody deliberately used your I.D. to commit fraud. That is obviously wrong. Just as it should be obvious to everyone that breaking into someone's personal email is wrong.... NO MATTER HOW EASY IT WAS. Just because I can pick a lock to steal your stuff doesn't make it right. Just because I can pirate songs or software doesn't make it right. Right and wrong don't come with the qualifier that it is okay if I can do it easily.

Posted by: Just me .02 | September 22, 2008 6:23 PM

Oh please you are all silly
email=postcard. Get over it if you want privacy get a PGP program or something like if you don't know what PGP is don't expect privacy on the net. Sorry the net is open

Posted by: ciscokid | September 22, 2008 6:29 PM

This democrat hacker basically ended up doing Palin a favor... proved to all that her personal email was just that! Every time one of these libs tries to take a cheap shot or lie about Palin or break the law to get Palin, it just ends up biting them.

Posted by: Tom | September 22, 2008 7:34 PM

I can't believe it, all these self-righteous, liberals, here trying to justifying the hacker's action. It's like you wear a nice watch, walk down the street, get robbed, and be accused of wearing the watch cuz the watch is not properly protected???

And for those who jump up and down, complaining about generalization of college kids, or about their support of Obama, or their association to Obama, it's because the mindless, reckless, college kids ARE supporting Obama, and they're hacking Palin's, not Biden's, account (HELLO).

Posted by: Elias | September 22, 2008 8:03 PM

So how many believe that this goes further? The idea that the hacker's affiliation is without links to political party does not mean that this fact could have gone unnoticed by a Democrat weasel. In other words, it could still be a Watergate-type situation with powerful ramifications. Remember, Nixon protested til the end.

Posted by: TommyF | September 22, 2008 8:26 PM

Since when is using a password recovery utility built into a mail server considered 'hacking'? He's a lucky guesser or she's terrible at coming up with password hints..honestly..you're all short-bus riding republicans..

Posted by: 1337sk00l3r | September 22, 2008 3:39 PM
To 1337sk0013r - you are such an idiot for having the nerve to write something so stupid!!!!!! Typical democrat - you would kill someone and say it was okay.

Posted by: Tammy | September 22, 2008 9:06 PM

The Republicans on this board who are outraged at this immature stunt seem to have forgotten that a Republican President [not a Republican legislator's college age son] had a group of thugs break into the offices of the Democratic National Committee and wiretap the phones. This would not have been discovered if an alert guard had not noticed a door taped open.

Posted by: Lynn | September 22, 2008 10:07 PM

I wonder how far up the Democratic party this goes? He's the son of a Dem congressman, so we should assume... nothing?

Posted by: R. Flowers | September 22, 2008 10:53 PM

THIS KID IS JUST A ONE HACKER THAT WE KNOW ABOUT HACKING PALIN'S E-MAIL. GOD KNOWS WHO ELSE DID IT. GOD KNOWS WHAT ELSE STUPID SHE WILL DO. THE THING THAT WE DON'T KNOW IS; WHAT WAS IN HER E-MAILS AND WHO GOT THE HOLD OF THE INFORMATIONS?

Posted by: BOBSTER | September 22, 2008 11:33 PM

What is email account? Is that some special kind of bank account?

Posted by: John S McCain | September 22, 2008 11:37 PM

Sarah "Clueless" Palin and her husband, on the instructions of John McCain and the likes of fugitives from Congressional investigation as Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and others in the Republican Party, refused to honor Alaskan legislative investigation into allegation of abuse of power. Now the FBI is investigating those who hacked into Sarah Palin's email. Is it ironic, that Sarah "Clueless" Palin and the lawless Republican establishment of Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and others who do not think they should be subject and accountable to US Constitutional provisions, are now being provided the consttitutional rights guaranteed in the very Constitution they do not tink they should be accountable to.!!

Posted by: Ignatius | September 22, 2008 11:41 PM

Anyone who has been to 4chan would know that the kid only did it for internet glory; it really has very little to do with politics. All you biased posters for either wing have to do your research.

Posted by: Anonymous | September 22, 2008 11:51 PM

I find it telling that an administration that largely sat on its hands after a CIA under-cover agent had her cover blown-- and came up with many creative reasons not to do anything about it, to boot-- is now falling over itself to investigate this hacking of Palin's private email. Leave alone the questions of Gov. Palin's use of private email for official purposes flying in the face of her so-called Openness initiative.

Posted by: BeaverDesi | September 23, 2008 12:00 AM

HAHAHAHA
EACH DAY I READ THIS BLOG TO MAKE ME LAUGH AT YOU SILLY AMERICANS AND YOUR SILY ELECTIONS AND SILLY PETTY FIGHTS!

OBAMA CANNOT BRING YOU TOGETHER AND MCCAIN IS SOFT OLD MAID.
aLLAH AKHBAR!

Posted by: Osama bin Mujaheddin | September 23, 2008 12:05 AM

Wow, the government is all over the Palin hacking case. Yet, the outing of a covert CIA agent, an act of high treason, is still unresolved five years later. Perhaps, someone should investigate a public official, say a governor or president, who tries to subvert governmental transparency by using public email accounts. Or, investigate the stupidity of a governor who uses a freakin' Yahoo account for state business. Of course, if stupidity were a crime, our prisons would be overflowing with Republicans.

Posted by: Leftist Avenger | September 23, 2008 12:16 AM

Osama bin Mujahheddin? Wow where did you dig that one up, Bob? Cute, but not real effective. Anyhow, this nit wit broke the law,hacking is nothing more than breaking and entering.Against the law the last time I looked.......oh by the way,is it true Biden is going to step down for 'medical reasons' so Obama can combat the Republicans Sarah Palin nuking of the Dems by putting Hillary back on the ticket as his running mate? HMMMMMMMMMMMM..............I hope that everyone would see this for what it really would be. Beam me up Scotty there's no intelligent life down here..............

Posted by: Capt.Kirk | September 23, 2008 1:07 AM

Rule #1:

Do not brag about anything that can get you locked up.

Rule #2:

See rule #1.

Posted by: Monitor | September 23, 2008 3:28 AM

I say, who cares??? If the lady is dumb enough to conduct government business on a free website using a simple password, then she had it coming. After all, the Bush and Cheney Regime are more than likely spying on everything Senator Obama and his staff are saying, writing or doing, using the "patriot" act as a cover- it's refreshing to see somebody with minimal skills and technology give them a taste of their own medicine!

Posted by: Ron Sampson | September 23, 2008 10:24 AM

What kind of person is crazy enough to use a Yahoo account to conduct official government business?

And now we want to make her Vice President and give her top security clearance and access to all our nation’s secrets?

He's just a kid. Politics be damned. His whole future should not rest on whether he "hacked" into a house wives email account. Privacy dowsn't exist anymore for all intents and purposes. It certainly doesn't exist for kids who routinely put their whole life online now. Maybe its better. As a mother she should come out in his defense and as a rough and tumble Alaskan she should consider it no big deal because its not. Only a jerk would pursue or prosecute this. The boy has to be scared spitless. That should be enough.

Posted by: Oklahoma | September 23, 2008 3:24 PM

The irony of Sarah Palin throwing the book at this teenage hacker while she thumbs her nose at the law and refuses to cooperate with a legal bipartisan investigation....

Sarah Palin thinks she (just like Bush and Cheney before her) is above the law but she is perfectly willing to throw her power around and crush any average American who gets in her way.

Posted by: Rick W | September 23, 2008 3:53 PM

If the son of a Republican hacked into Barack Obama's email account, there would be a Senate subcommittee and resginations would be demanded.

Posted by: Heather | September 24, 2008 2:24 PM

A post here said "The hacking was done by '4chan' which belongs to no party. They are one and they are many. It was done for giggles. Not for an agenda. It might have helped one agenda and hurt another but it was done to see if it could be done."

They knew it could be done when they did it. So why did they have to post her emails online? Also, the son of this Democrat Representative said he read the emails to look for dirt on Sarah Palin. So how is that not an agenda?

Posted by: Heather | September 24, 2008 2:26 PM

How it may be linked to the democrats? The kids father is a Democrat Representative, the kid identifies himself on his own website as a "obamacrat" and he intentionally picked Sarah Palin's email account.

Why didn't he hack Obama's account? Why didn't he hack Joe Biden's account? If he only did it to see if he could, why did he then go and post the emails online?

Posted by: Heather | September 24, 2008 2:35 PM

I can't believe all these Republican'ts here trying to make believe that this was some sort of Democratic Party sponsored attack on Palin. Here's a clue: It was a 20 year old college kid. The fact that his Dad is an elected Democrat is interesting but doesn't tie in his father or the party or any Democratic candidates.
And by the way for those who can't seem to remember the 70s - comparing this to the Republican Party and Candidate sanctioned and paid for break-in at Watergate is making you sound desperate.

Posted by: Sanity | September 24, 2008 3:09 PM

For the person who commented that anyone publishing another person's private emails should be prosecuted -

While I agree with you on that point, it's ironic that Bush/Cheney have driven the DOJ to redefine emails as not private once they've been read. All the screenshots were of older already read e-mails and therefore it's unlikely to be a charge they can bring against this hacker.
More on this twist here: http://techdirt.com/articles/20080919/0137572312.shtml

Posted by: Sanity | September 24, 2008 3:18 PM

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